Why do you think George Washington was reluctant (hesitant) to take power?

he did not want to become like a king.

George Washington understood and was afraid of the huge burden he was placing upon his shoulders. He was going to be the president of a new republic that had just been born; there were no modern precedents in the contemporary world of kings and emperors of his time. So, he and the American presidency were a new experiment in politics, he was a pioneer.

There were enormous economic challenges ahead, the US was weak then, weak in comparison with the rapacious European powers hungry for wealth, conquest and territory. His life would be under public scrutiny. Besides, as a man with a true democratic spirit, he may have also feared succumbing to the temptations of power, of power abuses. For all those reasons, he was reluctant to become the new state's top leader.